Actes du colloque

Proceedings of the 18

International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Paris 2013

members of the Corporate Associates’ Presidential Group,

which has a very company-oriented perspective.

TECHNICAL OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE

Suzanne Lacasse presented her report which is included as

Appendix 7. She described the function of the committee,

which had focussed on creating and organising the Technical

Committees, ensuring there were sensible guidelines for the

TCs and developing the scheme of major ISSMGE Lectures

associated with the TCs and named after an important

individual associated with the work of a TC. The TCs had been

grouped into 3 categories Fundamentals (TC 100-107),

Applications (TC 201-216) and Impact on society (TC 301-

307). 20 TCs had continued from the previous Board, 1 had

been discontinued and 11 created. All 30 TCs had submitted an

administrative report for the past 4 year period and it had been

agreed that the lifetime of TCs should no longer be linked to the

Presidential period. It was hoped the TOC would continue and

that in future the TOC would take a major role in providing

nominations for the Outstanding TC Award along with others

knowledgeable of a TCs achievements. It was further hoped that

the future TOC would prepare guidelines and technical

recommendations for practice within a TCs subject area and for

archiving the work by the TCs on the web.

In discussion, Robert Holtz (USA) thought it would be

beneficial if there were close cooperation between national and

ISSMGE Technical Committees. Suzanne Lacasse saw no

problem with this and that Member Societies could have two

members common to both sets of committees. There followed

considerable discussion and comment on the membership of the

Technical Committees. The Guidelines, which are included in

Appendix 7, state that the TC chair can nominate 4 members of

a TC, the TOC can nominate 4 members, and the remaining

membership is made up of up to 2 nominees per member

society, plus other corresponding members. However, keeping

track of this was not a straightforward matter as correspondence

often did not pass through the Secretariat office. It was noted

that TCs no longer had to be renewed at the start of the

Presidential term, and provided the TC was active, it would

continue its work seamlessly. It was also noted that in general

terms the Chair of a TC would continue but that there should be

rotation of the Chair every approximately 8 years.

STUDENT AND YOUNG MEMBER PRESIDENTIAL

GROUP

Jennifer Nicks presented her report which is given in Appendix

8. She described the committee structure, its mode of operation

and gave details of the membership. Some of the achievements

of the group included a dedicated SYMPG Geo-World

webpage, liaisons with other committees including TCs, the

promotion of future young members’ activities and the

development of the Outstanding Young Geotechnical Engineer

Award. The President expressed his satisfaction for the work of

this group, and noted that it was led by women.

He asked Council for any questions for Jennifer Nicks, and

there were none.

CORPORATE ASSOCIATES’ PRESIDENTIAL GROUP

Michael Lisyuk presented his report which is given in Appendix

9. He noted that this group had been in operation for only two

years, but even so had made significant progress. The key

purposes of the group were to find out from practitioners what

activities and benefits they would like from ISSMGE and to

increase the number of Corporate Associates joining ISSMGE.

Several meetings by Skype conference call had been held, along

with an in-person meeting in St Petersburg.

AWARD COMMITTEE

François Schlosser presented his report which is given

Appendix 10. He was pleased to report that the Committee,

having considered awards offered by ISSMGE, had now

increased the range such that there were now more recipients

and for different activities. This had the benefit of awards

reaching a wider membership. The AWAC had developed

guidelines and specifications for the awards and had facilitated

the review of the nominations received. In general the process

had gone well, but it had been noted that in certain cases further

review of the specifications was required.

It was noted that the Awards for the Terzaghi orator and

Kevin Nash Gold Medal winner would be presented the first

morning of the 18ICMSGE, and that the remaining awards

would be presented at a special session starting at 12:00 noon

Tuesday 3rd September.

PUBLIC RELATIONS COMMITTEE

Marc Ballouz presented his report which is given in Appendix

11. The PRC had defined its objectives and formed task forces

to deal with each of them. The achievements of the committee

included:

•

A publicity brochure, and roll-up banner, which

would be available from the ISSMGE booth in the

18ICSMGE;

•

A new website

whatisgeoengineering.com

•

A short publicity film promoting the aims and

objectives of ISSMGE;

•

An article “Hidden treasures of Geotechnics”

published by Science Omega Review Europe.

•

A time capsule, which would contain items

representing the current state of Geotechnics

(suggestions, please!), to be opened in 150 years.

In discussion it was noted that ideas were welcomed for

what items could be placed in the time capsule and all delegates

to the conference were invited to submit their suggestions at the

ISSMGE booth. The publicity film had been shown earlier and

was met with approval. A number of delegates offered their

help in subtitling the film into other languages. It was further

noted that attempts could be made to distribute the film to

universities and other institutions.

The conference organisers commented that the CFMS had

been active in developing a museum exhibit (

Les dessous des

grands travaux

) at the Musée des arts et métiers, which had

recently opened and they recommended all delegates should

visit it. The intention was that this would become a permanent

exhibition at the museum. Heinz Brandl (Austria) commented

that the issue of an ISSMGE Heritage Museum had been

considered for some time and that there was an exhibition at the

Technical University in Vienna illustrating its close cooperation

with Terzaghi.

THE ISSMGE FOUNDATION

Harry Poulos gave a short presentation (Appendix 12) on the

outcome of the foundation, referring to recipients, donors and

resources. He noted that the President was at the head of the list

of donors, and acknowledged that the President was thus

demonstrating his full commitment, financial and otherwise, to

the Foundation. Applications for funding now followed a well-

defined procedure, with applicants required to complete a

Volume 6 - Page 233